Hawkeye #19 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (story), David Aja (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: Clint learns that he doesn’t need to hear to listen.

The Review: Another year, another Eisner for the creative team behind Hawkeye. I confess I have no idea how these things are doled out, how anyone gets nominated or voted or ultimately chosen. But aside from the rather monotonous series of wins for Saga, the Eisners seem to be a legitimate honor for those who receive one. For Fraction-Aja, the award in question was Best Single Issue for #11, a.k.a., the dog issue.

I wasn’t terribly surprised by the win. Despite #11‘s flaws from an ongoing narrative point of view, it was definitely a groundbreaker, pushing Fraction-Aja to new creative heights in finding ways to convey information through a visual medium. For the same reasons, I have a feeling this issue will be a contender for the same award next year. The formula is simple: Fraction devises a novel plot development that’s also a major obstacle for comic book storytelling, and Aja ingeniously works around it. The result is something you can safely say you’ve never seen in a comic before.